September 28th, 2010 
admin Question:
I have one major problem area: my thighs, mainly in the back near the buttocks. I have the dimple effect happening. I was wondering what I have to do to get rid of these unsightly cottage cheese thighs.
Are there any specific exercises you can tell me to do? I seem to carry most of my weight/body fat in my midsection and my thighs, but I lose from my gut faster than I do my thighs. Why is that? Any thoughts or ideas would be much appreciated. Do I need to perform more cardiovascular training? I do cardio 3 to 4 times a week already. Should I do more weight lifting with my legs? How do I make the dimples on my thighs go away?
Answer:
Your problem with lower body fat buildup is typical one for women. It happens because of your hormones and your physiology. Basically your body is always trying to prepare itself for childbearing. Men have a similar problem with stomach fat (it’s not for the childbearing even if they look pregnant!).
Losing the cottage cheese is going to be a matter of losing fat. There are exercises you can perform to firm up the muscle underneath the thigh area and improve the appearance. Once you burn the fat, you’ll have nicely toned muscle to show.
It sounds like you are doing a lot of cardio already. If you can, I would suggest doing interval training to increase your fat burning.
To do this, you will essentially alternate between periods of high intensity and low intensity, known as interval training for fat loss. For example, on the elliptical trainer (or other machine) start with a short warm-up, then set on a relatively high intensity that makes you work hard for 30 seconds to a minute. Then drop it back down to the easy level for 30 seconds to a minute for recovery. Repeat this for 10 to 15 minutes.
This form of training will help boost your metabolism long after you’re done, causing you to burn more calories during the day..
For weight training, I would suggest exercises like squats, leg presses, lunges and leg curls.
A word of caution about leg presses – always keep your lower back and hips in contact with the back pad. If you let those bodyparts come up off the back pad at the bottom of the rep you could put stress on your back.
Here are some quick nutrition tips that can help you with fat loss:
•Increase your protein intake, e.g. eggs, chicken, fish, lean meat, etc. This supports your metabolism and your muscle, which is critical for burning fat in the long term.
•Cut back on the junk food that you’re eating. This will make a huge difference quickly. You don’t have to totally remove it, just decrease it quite a lot.
•Don’t eat anything before a workout. If you do, your body will use the food you just ate for energy rather than stored fat.
•Eat an hour or so after your training sessions. This allows your fat burning to continue until you eat. Do not wait much longer than the amount of time, though, as you need food for your muscles to recover.
• Stick to protein and low in fat.
• Do not eat meals late at night. Your body will not have time to use those calories and can store them as fat.
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